Month: September 2013

Hello, dreary, gray, gloomy, rainy REST DAY!!!

It’s generally advisable to take a rest day (or multiple — one for every mile) after a race, and yet… I did not do that. Don’t be like me.

On Tuesday, my legs felt… fine. Like no half-marathon ever happened. I stood at my standing desk most of the day and waited for muscle pain or tightness or fatigue to creep it, but it never did. So I scrapped my loose plans for a massage (I’m hoarding a gift card until the optimal opportunity arrises) and went for a five-mile recovery run instead.

I ran the outer loop of Green Lake, which is gravel/dirt rather than a paved trail, to keep my pace casual. I honestly just needed a good sweat to rid myself of any lingering disappointment after the half-marathon.

I know 2:05:43 is not, by any means, a time to be ashamed of! But the fact that it’s two minutes slower than my very first half and 10 minutes slower than my PR, plus the way it went down — basically nine miles of solid running, and then a walkathon for miles 10-13 — well, let’s just say I know I could have done better.

And I’ll save all the negative thoughts I had during this race for the official recap. GET. EXCITED.

Last night, I had eight miles on my Chicago Marathon training plan, but I cut it down to five because otherwise I’d end up running 54 miles this week, which is kind of crazy given that I’ve only run 29 and 23 miles in the past two weeks. So 51 miles is… somehow… better?

Fun numbers happen when you run a half-marathon and then need to run a 20-miler in the same week. I could delay the 20-miler, but then I’d be running it at elevation in Colorado, so NOPE.

Back to last night:

With a side of awesome sunset:

Time to go to work. I kind of love rainy days because being at work, sheltered from all the crappy rain, is actually kind of nice and cozy. Just add a hot mug of tea.

Even if lightning strikes me on the way home tonight, I promise I will write part one (oh yes, multiple parts) of my Hood to Coast recap and post it either late tonight or tomorrow morning!

My mom says she’s sick of refreshing my blog for updates… I get “asks” seeing if I’m OK… and someone actually used the contact form on Aaron’s website to inquire about my well-being.

Sorry for disappearing! Hood to Coast was a really intense, action-packed experience that I’ve been meaning to blog about, but I really need to sit down and devote a few hours to doing it justice. I’ve been putting it off, plain and simple.

But… it was AWESOME!

I was fortunate to get to know so many amazing runners — including my wonderful van-mates, pictured above — and we all made it to Seaside happy, healthy, and drunk on relay endorphins. I ran faster than I ever have before (like, 7:XX miles — whoa). And Nuun spoiled us all to death for five straight days. 

Seriously, as amazing as Nuun the product is, the people who make up Nuun the company are a hundred times more so.

Today I ran a half-marathon “for fun” that really wasn’t much fun at all. Just like two years ago, the Labor Day Half was hellishly hot (who starts a half at 9 a.m.??) and I simply wasn’t prepared to run my best race. What began as a PR attempt completely crumbled after nine miles to exhaustion, nausea, extensive walking, and general bummed-out-ness.

Then, Megan and Zoe — Nuun employees who organized/ran Hood to Coast and made the whole experience as incredible as it was — caught up to me in the final mile and encouraged me to run to the finish with them.

We were all hurting and not caring about our times at that point, but I was the one who had to walk due to a pesky cramp. I told them to go ahead, but they walked with me for a bit, and we continued on to run to the finish line together.

This was my slowest half ever — a full 10 minutes slower than my PR — but with every hour that passes, I forget a little bit of the misery of miles 10 through 13 and remember more vividly the awesomeness of the last 0.1.

As a mostly solo runner, I’ve learned in this last week how wonderful it feels to team up with fellow runners to accomplish something great, whether it’s a 200-mile relay across Oregon or the final mile of a half-marathon.

I like to depend on myself for most things, but sometimes, we all need somebody to lean on.

Big thanks to my HTC teammates, plus Megan and Zoe, for being my somebodies.

More to come on all this soon — I promise! Aaron and I just finished the first season of Orange is the New Black, which was the biggest free-time-suck EVER. (But seriously, start watching it if you haven’t already!)

Time for bed now. Night!